Warwickshire Intermediate Cup

Reverting to cup rugby this weekend, Leamington fielded another much changed side, but nevertheless put in an improved performance against Olney RFC, from Midlands 2 East (South). In fact it was only in the important last quarter of the game that the visitors finally made sure of victory.

In superb playing conditions, Leamington started on the front foot with a darting run from Gareth Shuttleworth, which his backline gave full support to, putting early pressure on the visitors. Then, as the tables were quickly turned, Leamington found themselves having to defend and it took some swift tackles from Shuttleworth and Sam Nunn to stop the Olney attack. Full-back, Kenny Kwok was then forced in to a head on challenge with an Olney attacker to keep his line intact.

A break out by Leamington’s Mark Symonds was the only respite before the Olney attack returned, this time claiming a converted score, with sixteen minutes on the clock.

The visitors were looking very solid at this time, with one Leamington supporter observing that “they had plenty of beef out there”. However, this weight advantage proved little use when Leamington launched an attack up the nearside flank. Sam Nunn sent a delightful ball up the wing that Ryan Byrne, making a very welcome return, latched on to. The quick-thinking winger made the ball available to John Raby, who in turn, found the ever willing, Kenny Kwok with a neat pass. From some distance, Kwok raced away from the Olney defence and dived over for a well worked score. Nunn was just off target with the conversion attempt; however, his side were back in the game.

The balance of play once again shifted in favour of the visitors and whilst Shuttleworth pulled off a superb try saving tackle, the Olney attack continued to advance and increased their lead with a try.

As the half entered its final quarter, Leamington brushed aside the power of the Olney forwards and once again set about a series of probing attacks of their own. They became encamped in the Olney 22 metre area, near the corner and when awarded a penalty, Shuttleworth took control and forced his way towards the try line. Initially held up and with his forwards in full support the ball was eventually gathered by Byrne who crashed over in the corner.

Now only two points adrift, Leamington finished the half in high tempo. A break by centre, John Raby and an exchange of passes with Kwok and Byrne nearly opened up the Olney defence and on the opposite wing, Nunn almost set winger, Dave Cotton away with a well directed chip up-field.

Half Time: 10 -12

Leamington were certainly looking in good spirits and despite some enforced positional changes, which saw prop forwards playing in the back-row and back- row forwards playing in the centre, they were giving Olney plenty to think about.

The situation got even better, when Simon Magill punched a huge hole in the Olney defence with a powerful run allowing Raby the chance to get possession and race in for the score.

Not surprisingly, following the pattern of play to date, Olney responded with some incisive attacking. Fortunately, the home defence had been in good form all afternoon and in particular some robust tackling from Nathan Batchelor had caught the eye on several occasions.

However, such was the constant barrage now from the Olney attack, cracks did become visible in the home defence and the lead was regained, courtesy of a converted score.

Three more tries followed for the visitors, although Leamington continued to focus on playing attacking rugby. In one sparkling piece of play, Ryan Byrne, who had just caught the visitor’s defence napping with a fine run, continued to pose problems with a neat steal, which almost opened the way for Kwok to capitalise on.
Whilst the scoreline reflected the Olney possession, it did defect away from the impressive manner in which Leamington had approached the game from the start. Aled Thomas and Danny Phillips had been working tirelessly in the unusual territory to them, of the back-row and Mark Warrilow, Nick Maxwell and Scott Peters had been impressive in the scrum. The half-back pairing of Shuttleworth and Nunn had also used the possession from their forwards to good effect.

Full-Time: 15 – 38

Next week Leamington return to league rugby with a trip to Barkers Butts, kick-off 3.00pm.